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Avemar
Taylors Valley, VA
Liveaboard and sailing full time since 2020. April and I are currently working our way down to the Chesapeake Bay for the remainder of the summer before heading to the Bahamas for the holidays.
I’m pretty sure the wind never went below 20 kn. At one point I got an alert on my chart plotter that winds were over 40 kn. That’s impossible because out in the ocean on my way to Saint Augustine the cups blew off of my anemometer. Anyway, the goal was accomplished. Avemar is in Stuart, Florida. @April returns to the boat Sunday night and we have a slip for a month at our favorite quirky marina. In February Avemar gets hauled out for a while so that we can hike 2200 miles on the Appalachian Trail!
Progress was made towards picking @April up on Sunday in Stuart, FL. It was a long day, but uneventful. We had nice wind for sailing and motor sailing. It the clouds cooperate, we should see a SpaceX launch tonight which will be cool.
Last week I bought Navionics card for my chart plotter but I didn’t receive the card I ordered. When I returned it, the card I wanted was no longer in stock. Instead of waiting, I decided to upgrade C-Map since that is what I have used for the past four years and I had been generally happy with the charts. The Reveal+ has much more detail than my previous version. Tonight, as I was coming into an anchorage that should protect me from north and northeast winds, I ran aground in a spot where my new fancy chart showed eight feet of water. Unfortunately, my depth sounder said 4.6’. I noticed that after I was stopped. Avemar draws 5’. @DamageControlSailing came over to assist and we tried pulling the mast over with the spinnaker halyard. Sput took my anchor out into deeper water and I tried to winch myself out. I didn’t move. BoatUS pulled me out later. Afterwards the captain said I was on a hump with 7-8’ all around the boat.
The forecast this morning wasn’t too pretty, but somehow Avemar managed to sneak between the rain cells in a front that passed through and then got far enough south that we also avoided the wind line that rolled across the south today. It was a pretty smooth motor down the intercoastal waterway. @DamageControlSailng followed us and we timed the bridge openings together. We’re heading south on the inside towards Stuart over the next couple of days together.
Today was a very long short day. We covered about 25 miles, and I dropped the hook at 1430. I woke April at 0415 this morning to climb out of the V-berth. The wind didn’t feel right, and the waves didn’t sound or feel right. Both @DamageControlSailing and Avemar had chosen a spot to anchor in Charleston on Wednesday night to avoid as much of the SW wind on Thursday as possible. I knew that after that storm on Thursday passed us, the shift would be from the North, but I didn’t know when that would happen. Well, it happened around 0400 this morning. The depth sounder showed that Avemar was in 11 feet and the anchor was in 22 feet of water, but the chart plotter showed the stern sitting at 5. I started the engine, made coffee, dressed, drank coffee, went up, and pulled the anchor after putting on even more clothes and two pairs of gloves! The wind chill was 31º F. Avemar motored up the Ashley River and anchored at the entrance to the ICW to wait for the 0930 opening of the Wappoo Creek bridge. We were through the bridge by 0935 and breezing with a nice current push at 8.5 knots. That ended about an hour later when we crossed an inlet timed with a tide change where we slowed below 4 knots due to a current of 1.75 knots against us. April worked below all morning and had a previously scheduled video conference call to be recorded. This Perkins 4.108 is LOUD. A recorded video conference call would not be good. I searched the charts and found a cool finger off the Stono River near MM 495 in the middle of a marsh. We will hang out here for the night, recoup from the frigid weather, wake up well before dawn again, and take on Day 18 tomorrow morning!
I was asleep and then was hit in the head with a Honeycrisp Apple, jolted into the reality of being in a port-side lee cloth sailing in the ocean. I sat up, swung my feet to the floor at the end of the settee, and stepped on two bananas. That’s pretty much the story of the second half of the trip from Beaufort, NC to Charleston, SC. The macrame slings from Etsy that hold our fruits and vegetables inside on the starboard side had swung past the point that the cup hooks keeping them attached couldn’t do it anymore. Fruits and vegetables flew across the cabin. The waves were large and the boat was rocking but we were still sailing along at 6.5 knots so I took it in stride and cleaned up banana mush on the floor in the dark at 2:30 a.m. That’s blue water sailing in a nutshell. Our original plan was to sail to St. Augustine. The forecasted southwest gale force winds in the ocean off of Savannah on Wednesday night, followed by strong winds on the nose Thursday afternoon heading further south caused us to reconsider our destination and so we headed into the Charleston Inlet. We’ll miss a mooring ball, showers, mail, good food at The Drunken Horse St. Augustin’s, and amazing live music (on Sunday afternoons - I’m sure they are good every day but Sunday afternoons are over the top!) at Dog Rose Brewing Co., the Marine Supply & Oil Co which is a must-visit place for any sailor, plus the bonus of a Christmas Parade this Saturday. As you can tell, I love St. Augustine, in short bursts, particularly on Sundays. The constant in this sail was that the wind blew from roughly 010º. After a few slow hours leaving Beaufort, NC, wind speeds picked up and never dropped below 20 knots. Perfect for Avemar. It was a very cold, one-starboard tack sail except for two short jibes to get around Frying Pan Shoals. Two reefs were in the main and two in the staysail. Avemar’s Wind Pilot steered for most of the trip. The story of the trip, other than the apple-to-the-head wake-up call, was about the huge waves during the night on Tuesday. Winds were still 25 knots with higher gusts from the same direction, but the waves changed from the stern to hitting Avemar on the starboard side for a few hours. It was chaotic but we both hit the sack and got some well-deserved sleep. As a bonus, after 34 years of sailing, I finally experienced a wave coming over the stern and swamping the cockpit with 5” of water. I was on watch at the time and thankfully I was sitting in the companionway under the dodger and only the pillows I was sitting on got wet but it was quite an experience for a first-timer! All in all, it was fun. I got to sleep. April enjoyed her midnight to 4 am shifts at the helm and counting shooting stars. We are happy to be at anchor with the woodstove burning and waiting out the upcoming blow in a protected spot and are now looking for the next window to our next adventure… southbound!
At this pace, Avemar will be south of Charleston at this time tomorrow and then the winds build and build. Will we be far enough south? I don’t know but I’m developing a bail out route to St. Augustine. After a slow start from Beaufort, NC yesterday afternoon, winds picked up today! 25 knots from behind and 6.5 to 7.5 knots of boat speed for most of the day. The swell has set in now making things below a little uncomfortable but April and I are enjoying sailing again vs. the ICW! Oh, we lost the cups on our B&G wireless wind instrument at the top of the mast. That sort of sucks if for nothing else but to record these gusts in our logbook! We’re hanging on below!
April and I met our friends Sput and Suzy on SV Validated this morning in Oriental, NC and we cruised together to Beaufort. We had the tide with us for most of the trip so it was a leisurely day. As we were turning into the Taylor Creek from the river, we hit a submerged jetty. HARD!! The obstruction is well marked with signs, so we took the green nun #3 at the entrance to the creek wide to port. Well, that mark is not in the right location. If you are ever coming in from the ocean, stick to the reds!!
April landed in New Bern, NC very early today and got a hotel room after returning from a quick visit with her daughter in Austin, TX. I was only a few hours away in Oriental, NC last night. We decided that we would meet in New Bern rather than paying for an Uber to taxi her to the boat. For the next few days, the forecast shows rain with wind gusts in the 30 knot range. We decided that a slip in a marina for a few days was the best plan with: Showers. Laundry. Walmart delivery. Engine maintenance. A freshly washed deck. Another bonus is that fellow Sea People aboard SV Fearless are here!
I tried hard to get to New Bern, North Carolina today, but 65 miles is a long way to motor singlehanded in one day. April‘s flight lands tonight at midnight. I’ll meet her tomorrow morning and we will continue heading south. Today had some good sailing and some regular old motoring. There were a ton of boats coming out of the Great Dismal Swamp canal. When we were there, we only saw two or three boats moving along with us but this morning, there must’ve been about 12 boats coming from behind so they were back there somewhere. By the way, that alternate route is an amazing trip if you draw less than 6 feet. Just do it once.
April will be in Texas for a couple of days and I’m slogging it down the ICW to Beaufort, NC. Motor sailed on a nice reach early this morning but the the wind went on the nose as I entered the Alligator Canal. April will fly into New Bern and meet me later in the week. It was a beautiful trip, just very long. 65 miles to go. I will target Oriental tomorrow and Beaufort on Tuesday.
Taking the decision to head southbound on the Intracoastal Waterway through the great dismal swamp was an excellent choice. April and I expected the transit would take two days and we would spend one night in the canal. After we arrived, it was so beautiful and there are free docs along the route that we ended up spending four nights. We highly recommend this route if your boat draws less than 6 feet. April caught an Uber on Saturday morning and flew to Texas to visit her daughter for a few days. I locked out of the South Mills gates and motored down the river passed Elizabeth City and then sailed across the Albemarle Sound on a 7 knot deep reach. I went through the bridge at the Alligator River and turned west to anchor along the shore for the night. It was a beautiful trip.
After much debate, and a telephone call to the visitors center, April and I decided to take the Great Dismal Swamp Canal south on the Intracoastal Waterway to Elizabeth city. What a great decision!
Winds were 15-20 kn for most of the day. It was one long starboard tack. Around midday the waves had built to 5 feet but after a few hours the sea calmed down and the wind dropped below 10 knots. A pretty easy trip with a full genny and staysail with one reef in the main. Oh, for the first time my 34 years of sailing, I kissed a very large green channel marker. It is fine but I have a new woodworking project.
April and I spent a great day with @Bmattdillard and caught up on the last 38 years and talked a lot about boating, fishing, sailing, hiking and photography. He makes some awfully good blueberry pancakes. He shared a nice whisky too! My original plan was to leave Sunday night through the Hole In The Wall cut but April had some work to do. We decided to backtrack and take the deeper and better marked channel north of Gwynn’s Island on Monday morning after a good night’s sleep.
We’re slowly heading to the Bahamas. We stopped at the Mathews Yacht Club to see an old friend before leaving the Chesapeake. We plan to rendezvous with SV Validated on Monday and transit the Great Dismal Swamp canal towards warmer waters and weather.
It was a slow beat down the Chesapeake Bay on the second day or our migration to warmer weather. A chill sail though. Cold and warm. Breezy and then light. Avemar is staging in this area near the Rappahannock River to meet up with another sailboat to head south in Monday.
It was a short motor tonight. We just had to leave the Maryland Yacht Club. One could get addicted to trash cans, free water, showers, a full bar and restaurant. LOL.
There was no wind today, so April and I sailed from Solomons Maryland to the Maryland Yacht Club. This is our last preparation and provision stop before heading south for the winter.
We have a flight to catch. This morning we checked the forecast and we decided we didn’t have time to beat all the way to Baltimore and make our plans work. Instead we had a leisurely downwind sail to Solomons, MD.
The northwest 10-15 kn winds turned into 20-25 knots and shifted north. We were on the east side and didn’t want to tack across the bay again and sail all night so we bore off and found the closest protected spot which was another 5 miles away. Great sail. Long day!!!
We had a quick little sail across the Potomac River from Colonial Beach tonight to pick up mail before heading back up the Chesapeake Bay to catch a flight on Thursday.
Nice slow evening sail up the Potomac River to get fuel in the morning.
Sea People glitched tracking this trip. The dates are wrong. We left Ocean City on August 25 at 6pm and arrived at the Maryland Yacht Club at 5am on August 27. Since it didn’t post I trimmed the saved track but eventually gave up at being perfect about it. It’s plus or minus 10 miles. It’s too difficult to trim a track precisely on an iPhone14 Max Pro in the app, but this is close enough. Anyway, we sailed from Ocean City to Pasadena, MD.
